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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary
Henry Augustine Washington, 1858, August (Hills no. 31.1.219). Inscription
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Photo: Provided to Hills by Muscarelle Museum of Art, 1993
31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men

When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.

He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH

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Hills no. 31.1.219
Henry Augustine Washington
Alternate title: Portrait of Henry A. Washington (1820–1858)
1858, August
Oil on canvas
27 x 22 in. (68.6 x 55.9 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/Aug. 1858
Description / Remarks

Hills, 2021: Note the sitter's cravat, a style of necktie that was popular in the mid-nineteenth century.

Provenance
Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1948
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Washington, Henry Augustine
Biography:

Henry Augustine Washington (1820–February 1858). Taught at William and Mary College. His mother was great-niece of George Washington. Eldest of eleven children.

Keywords
Record last updated July 29, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Henry Augustine Washington, 1858, August (Hills no. 31.1.219)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?SystemID=661 (accessed on March 29, 2024).